Final Judgment Vignette
by Dark Memory
Summary: My own twisted version of Marik's journey through the other side, as would be portrayed in the Egyptian Book of the Dead.
1. The FinalsxPrologue

The Finals-(Prolouge)

_What you know..._

After all the heroes had been through, the end was finally here. Yugi and Joey had made it to the end of the battle city tournament. They would have to stand strong in the faces of Kaiba, the ultimate character foil, and Marik, the spawn of hatred. Yugi had faced Kaiba before and knew his opponent's deck fairly well. But when the good Marik lost his soul to darkness, and lost his God card as well, his deck and battle strategy had changed. No advice could be given to Joey, except to stay aware at all times.

Everyone aboard the Duel Ship went outside to the onboard arena to witness the match; the heroes unsure if Joey could actually win, but hoping for the best. Kaiba expected a slaughter. And the turnout was as expected. Marik _did_ win, but only on a technicality. If it had not been a shadow game, Joey would still have been standing in the end to take down the rest of Marik's life points.

The team stayed by Joey's side, while Yugi and Kaiba had their scheduled match. Both players pulled out the greatest cards in their decks. At one point, during a clash between equal powered gods, they were sent into a dimensional rift to ancient Egypt. There, they witnessed their souls battling in a primitive "shadow game."

During this primitive game, the High Priest's Blue Eyes White Dragon was unleashed upon the Dark Magician of the Egyptian Pharaoh. There was no spectacular duel scene, no destructive blasts; only a simple rising of two stone slabs and one reducing to rubble. The ruler's monster had fallen, and for the first time, Kaiba heard his voice from another body.

"_Rules are rules, Pharaoh… Your soul will now be sent to the Shadow Realm, and I am free to take the throne. I can save the decimated land you destroyed in your greed, and Egypt will flourish once again."_

"As long as Duel Monsters exist, so will I. The Gods will see to that."

"_How do you know I won't **destroy** the monsterspharaoh?"_

"You won't. Their power is too great, and you fear you might need them someday as protection. You're still afraid aren't you?"

"…"

"Yes, you are far too weak to rule this country. I will be back for it...someday."

"_You will do no such thing pharaoh! You're soul has become impure from your millennium item! You will never make it past the trials of Ra and the perils of the underworld. You are too unclean to stand before the courtroom of the gods at your trial and honestly say that you are worthy of coming back."_

After this, the two combatants were returned to their own time. Yugi was the first to speak. "So… that was us… or at least our souls. I guess I did make it through the trials that you spoke of Kaiba!"

"_I have no idea what you're talking about Yugi, or what that whole illusion was, but I'm still going to beat you."_

But he couldn't defeat the pharaoh's soul. Time had predestined him to lose this day. And so Yugi went on to face Marik in the final match. It was an intense struggle with each of their very souls on the line.

After making a brilliant comeback, it appeared that Yugi would win. When Marik saw his end in sight, however, he raised his millennium rod and replaced the enslaved spirit of his good side, with that of Tea's. Yugi boomed out, "That isn't fair Marik! You can no longer change the stakes, it is too late! This is a shadow game!"

"_Would you like to see unfair…Pharaoh?" _

Instantly, everyone…all of Yugi's friends and foes, the Kaiba executive watching the match, all were half vanished and chained by their ankles and wrists in the air.

"Marik! Do you have any idea what kind of punishment you will endure for this? You're putting your very existence into jeopardy!"

"_I don't care Pharaoh… In this day, age, moment, I exist only to cause you as much excruciating pain as possible. Do you think I fear losing my existence? It sounds kind of fun actually…"_

Yugi tried hard to defeat this spirit of pure darkness but in the end was too distracted by the consequences of losing. And as his lifepoints were on the verge of reaching zero, he began to cry and apologize to his friends. He said, "I promise you all a safe return… someday." And the match was over.

Yugi removed his millennium puzzle from his neck and prepared for the journey ahead. It would not be so difficult with his friends by his side. They would all make it through together. And so everyone but Marik disappeared into the other side that day.

_Flash-forward Sixty Years. _


	2. One Journey's End

One Journey's End

_What you don't know… _

Yami Marik steps outside of his Hollywood mansion to a beautiful sunset. He doesn't own the mansion; even in his elderly age, he's killed the previous owner of the building and has assumed his identity. And though this person was well known, no one questions Marik as anyone suspicious strangely loses their memory. And the millennium rod is fine as well.

Some days, Marik is alright. Others, he wants to kill himself just to see the pharaoh once more. He wants to cause him more pain. He wishes he could think of anything else, but if he did he would revert to his former, weaker self. And if that happened, he might not be able to regain this dark consciousness.

His life is pretty boring. He can kill many random people without humanly consequence but he is afraid of the cosmic punishment that grows near as he reaches the end of his life. At one point Marik set off to find the other owners of the millennium items, but gave that task up long ago. Now, his life is without purpose.

On a whim, he decides to visit Egypt. Perhaps his people will take him in and give him some new meaning. But he finds nothing there. With the spirit of the pharaoh banished for another millennium, the Tomb Keeper clan is temporarily disbanded while trying to regain their ranks. Anyone along the bloodline wants nothing to do with Marik's traitorous soul.

While searching Egypt's underworld or crime and desolation, he comes across the existence of an old clan. They are the "Elysian Envoys," a group dedicated to fulfill the burial procedures, including full mummification, of the old Book of the Dead. Ignoring the advances in science, they hold fast to their strong beliefs in the old gods of yore and continue what would now be considered strange practices. Their ambition drives Marik to join.

Being pureblood Egyptians themselves, they already knew of the existence of millennium items, though have never seen one before. With the millennium rod in hand, Marik brought the Elysian Envoys a sort of rebirth they had been searching for. A new strength in their faith developed from this newfound evidence. In his honor, Marik is quickly promoted through the ranks to their leader. He endured several initiation rites of passage from the old days. Thankfully, Marik had long forgotten what pain was.

In the near future, the Elysian Envoys took on a different form. One that rose in power so greatly that even normal citizens enlisted or at least knew of their name. And under the pretense of _"Sending new souls to the heaven of the Elysian Fields and evil to the courts of Osiris and Ra" _they massacred many non-believers. Disregarding the victims religion, they executed them and buried them according to the old Egyptian rituals, surely sending them to a world never imagined in their holy book.

"_The court of Osiris hasn't seen this many souls since that day I sent the pharaoh and his friends to the afterlife."_

The police tried to stand in their way, but was quickly decimated by the power of the millennium rod. No one could stand in the way of the Elysian Envoys, who had become an inquisition of sorts. They held a militaristic power in Egypt rivaling that of a dynasty.

One day, however, Marik had a heart attack. Up until now, the clan had not noticed his frailty. His death was approaching. And though he tried to find calm in the place he was going, he knew he could not expect a "warm welcome" from the gods. His friends tried to console him; "You know they will surely be merciful to such a faithful servant" or "There is another part to The Book of the Dead; there is also Coming Forth by Day, remember? You'll be coming back soon my dear friend… someday."

These friendly thoughts could no longer reach him. He was damned for his cruelty. And for all the darkness and loneliness he thought he had known his whole life, he was worried about punishment from the Gods. So worried in fact, that he ordered his men to kill him and perform the rites early. Waiting for death was not as pleasant as it would seem.

The ritual, the "Theban Recension," was performed immediately. He ordered his men to exclude any mention of a certain pharaoh; a last request. And once again, fear. Marik had not felt this in years. He was confident of a negative reception on the other side. But he hoped that Anubis would still warmly welcome him, as both he and Anubis were as cold and lifeless as the many slaughtered by Marik's crushing hatred.


End file.
